Together Again
by Me
Summary: Danny is having empty nest syndrome with Michelle and Stephanie both marrying and moving out, leaving him alone.


TOGETHER AGAIN  
  
Michelle Tanner looked lovingly into the eyes of her fianc‚, Jeff Farrington. Jeff and she  
lounged out on the porch swing at 1882 Girard, Michelle's home since her birth over 20 years  
ago. "You know," the brown-haired boy admitted as their lips drew closer together, "I almost put  
my hands up like antlers and ask you to marry me like Bullwinkele. But, I chickened out."  
  
Michelle giggled. Jeff had the somewhat macho, take charge attitude of her Uncle Jesse with  
the silliness of her dad's best friend, Joey. And, most importantly, he possessed the warmth and  
tenderness of her dad, Danny Tanner. Jeff was such a class clown, it was just so hard to see such  
warmth until they started going together for good, in high school. "I'm glad you didn't."  
  
"Let's do that at our wedding." He broke the romantic mood by holding his thumbs to his  
forehead. Jeff spoke in that comical, silly way Michelle had her first day of Kindergarten. "I do."  
  
Michelle laughed and flailed her hand. She continued giggling, making it hard for her ato  
sound like she was scolding him. "Jeff, we are NOT doing that at our wedding." The delightful  
giggle reminded many of her mom, who'd died when she was just a baby. "Besides, it's  
Stephanie's wedding, too."  
  
"Okay, but you know, Stephanie came back from her classs with you that day and taught us  
how cool that was," Jeff reminded her.  
  
Michelle nodded happily. "I remember. That's really my first vivid childhood memory. And  
she also wrote in her diary that we'd go to the prom together. When I was only nine."  
  
"So, see, she's expecting it. She'd probably do it, too, if you asked."  
  
Michelle shook her head. Her starwberry blonde bangs blew softly into her eyes, and she  
brushed them away. The could kissed gently. "If she'd predicted you'd propose on prom night,  
maybe." She sighed. Jeff hadn't proposed much later than her dad had to Pam Tanner. And now,  
it was almost 20 years to the day after Pam's death. "Maybe it's not such a good idea to tell Dad  
we're thinking of renting our own place. He's getting empty nest syndrome really bad," she  
remarked, changing the subject.  
  
"How can you tell, he always has trouble seeing you grow up."  
  
"Well, let's see." She counted on her fingers. "No, he's always vacuumed the stairs every  
day. And he's always loved to look through old photo albums. And he's always..." She threw  
up her hands. "Okay, you're right. Call it womens' intuition."  
  
Jeff could sense the sadness in her voice. "Hey, is it just him. Or, would you like stay here,  
too?"  
  
Michelle looked ahead and sighed. "I don't know. Part of me loves making Dad proud, and  
staying here would do that. But, well, I feel like I need space, too. So he's not being so  
overprotective."  
  
Jeff put an arm around her. "I don't think he'll care. You only want to work with kids here.   
He'll be thankful you're not going as far as Stephanie."  
  
"You're right. The duplex is just a few streets away. At least we're not going to Africa."  
  
---------------------  
  
Stephanie Tanner bounced joyfully. "Oh, D.J., everything's all so fabulous for the reception."   
They looked at the double wedding cakes in the Tanner family kitchen. "I'm glad we're having  
two weddings, it would have been so hard to pick a maid of honor otherwise; now the altar will  
just be really crowded anyway. Of course, now it's weird enough. I mean, I've got two,  
Michelle's got two, and we're splitting you..." She trailed off.  
  
"For once, you're not the one stuck int he middle," D.J. noted with a smile.  
  
Stephanie nodded. She'd almost bypassed Allie, because she'd been the maid of honor in her  
cute little play wedding when she was six. "At least this time, I won't lose my husband to his  
mom's meatloaf."  
  
D.J. nodded. "You'll miss any American food pretty soon."  
  
"Yeah, your husband Steve certainly couldn't handle it." Stephanie absently gazed at the  
napkins and examined the fancy shapes. "There's been so much to think about, with our move.   
Thanks for helping with everything, Deej; you and Aunt Becky have been the geratest." They  
embraced.  
  
"Now, tell me the truth," D.J. kidded Stephanie. "Are you really visiting this church in Niagra  
Falls to gain more support for you and Caleb?"  
  
"Okay, you know me to well. We've had all our funds for a few weeks now. I guess it will be  
like a mini-honeymoon before our trip." She sighed, and looked back. "I still remember my first  
really exotic boyfriend, that missionary's kid who's family came back here when I was fourteen.   
Boy, was that fun."  
  
"I never would have expected you to become a missionary yourself - I think dad's still a little  
stunned. I thought you'd staynear here and do something, like with my being a part-time nurse  
while raising the kids." D.J. and Stephanie began to lay out decorations on the tables. "Isyour  
time with Josh what first led you to think about that?"  
  
Stephanie glanced down at the party favors and chuckled. "You know, I could trace it all the  
way back to the day I put Joey's car through the kitchen," she reminisced. "I couldn't believe Dad  
could ever forgive me. I thought he should never have to hug me or kiss me again, and that he  
should make me build a new house so they could live in it withut me. And he was so tender, so  
forgiving, so loving. And I realized how lucky I was, and how some kids just didn't have that.   
But, after you and I prayed that night, and I asked for Christ's forgiveness and mercy, I just sort  
of forgot about that part of it for a while, till Michelle's accident made me realize I needed to  
learn how to forgive. And then, when Josh came along...." She trailed off, realizing she'd been  
rambling just like when she was little. But, she couldn't help it. She loved to talk, just like her  
dad.  
  
D.J. nodded. "Mom was always the churchgoing one. I mean, Uncle Jesse always wore her  
cross necklace around his neck, and he led Michelle to the Lord when she was nine. But, if any of  
the family did before Mom's accident, it was her who really made sure we learned why we love,  
and forgive, and stuff." D.J. grinned. "Dad did a great job of demonstrating forgiveness, though,  
you're right."  
  
"And then there was Uncle Jesse and Joey trying to demonstrate forgiveness," Stephanie  
laughed, "with Joey's flounder tarts. They were such a mess, they poured it down each other's  
shirts, they messed each others' faces up in it, that was so silly."  
  
D.J. concurred. "Yeah. I didn't always do the right thing, and sometimes I really got away  
from helping you. But, I tried, in my own little way, to do like Mom did. To be a good role  
model, and all that." Especially for Kimmy, she considered. Who knew where that kid would  
have wound up if not for her help. But, now, Kimmy was a successful hairstylist and mother of  
two with her husband, Duane. And, Stephanie had done the same with one of her friends, who  
was now a successful attorney.  
  
"You did great, Deej." Stephanie hugged D.J. again. She couldn't believe that, at 25, she was  
about to not only marry the man she'd met her first year of college, but go off to a foreign  
continent. But, the percentage of young people in Kenya had moved her to dedicate her life to  
going there as a junior in high school. And now, here she was. "It's going to seem hard at first,  
not being able to call you up and ask for advice. It seems like just yesterday, I was asking you  
about boys for the first time."  
  
"I know. E-mail just isn't quite the same." She grinned. "But, I know you'll do a great job."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
--------------------------------  
  
"I always wondered how this worked," Jeff whispered to his best man as Stephanie was  
walked down the aisle by Danny. "I thought maybe he walked with one on each arm."  
  
Danny walked back up, and brought Michelle down the aisle, thankful that at least he was  
getting all his crying over with at once. After vows were exchanged, the couples went to a  
fabulous reception at the Tanner household.  
  
"Hey, Danny, you looked pretty bummed," Joey remarked in the kitchen during the party.  
  
Jesse patted him on the back. "Yeah, man, how many other people gain two sons at once."  
  
"Well, you did, Jess," Joey pointed out.  
  
"That's not what I mean," Jesse noted with faked exasperation. He grinned slightly. "Though  
it does make me wonder if my girls will do the same thing when they're ready to marry."  
  
Danny nodded slowly. "Yeah, Becky sure was surpised when she had those twin girls six  
years after Nicky and Alex were born. Two sets of twins. Man, and I thought one kid at a time  
was hard." He shook his head. "So, how's your family, Joey?"  
  
Joey laughed. He could tell Danny was just making small talk. "Fine, Suzie's still got that job  
at the hospital she had when you saw her ten minutes ago. Kids are doing well; well, actually, the  
way they grow, ten minutes might be enough for them to have gained three inches."  
  
Jesse held up a finger. "Plus, I think with this particular baby you've got now, you may want  
to pour the formula directly into the diaper."  
  
Joey nodded. "Yeah, true. Man, you know, if Michelle hadn't had her accident we might  
never have met." Chuckling, he recalled "that time just after Michelle came home then, you  
thought I was looking moonstruck at Mr. Woodchuck, when it was really her I was thinking  
about."  
  
"Yeah, man, it all happens for a reason." Jesse patted him on the shoulder.  
  
"Hey, Dad," D.J. said as she poked her head into the kitchen. "Steve and I are going out to  
dinner. Can we just leave our four kids here to spend the night."  
  
Joey raised his eyebrows. "Well, there's gonna be a lot of cleaning up, don't you think it'd be  
better..."  
  
Jesse glared at Joey. "Joey, she doesn't want Danny to feel lonesome. He doesn't need  
reminded that both his daughters are leaving on honeymoons." Danny winced, and Jesse turned  
to him. "Oh, sorry, Danny."  
  
"Oh, okay. Gee, if you want, we could all just move back in for a few weeks, and have it wind  
up being eleven years like last time," Joey kidded his friend. He knew It would be really hard.   
They needed lots more space, just like Jesse and Becky did. But, Danny needed to be cheered up  
somehow.  
  
"It's okay, I don't need anyone to move back in," Danny asured them. "It seems strange,  
though, being alone here. At least if Pam were here I'd have her."  
  
Becky, having walked in and overheard, offered a suggestion. "I know something you could  
do, Danny. Soemtimes in the Midwest, when a parent has lots of kids or grandkids, once the  
spouse dies, the widow just sells the farm and moves around, living with different ones for a little  
while at a time. That way, she doesn't overstay their welcome, and they get to see all their kids.   
My great-grandma lived with my grandma like that for a while, till she finally invited her to stay  
permanently. And, the other kids were okay with it. But, before that, she'd go around to all of  
them."  
  
"Hey, that's a great idea," Jesse remarked. "Of course, Kenya's a long way away, but our  
house is always open."  
  
"Same here, Danny," Joey told him.  
  
Danny grinned. "Yeah. Jeff's a Communications major, I don't think he'd want to do comedy  
full time. He's mature enough now, I could probably get him a job at the station. He could  
eventually be my replacement on our show. How about it, Becky?"  
  
"Sure," Becky joked. "I've gotten so used to your style these 19 years. I guess being from  
Nebraska, I'm just used to soemone whose really corny."  
  
------------------------  
  
Danny Tanner got off the helicopter, still feeling a little distressed. He'd moved around a little  
the last few months, and simply let someone else rent his house - someone he knew would keep it  
very clean. But, he felt it just wasn't the same, spending a month each with Jesse and Joey, then a  
few months with D.J..  
  
Still, at least now he'd be seeing Stephanie for the first time in months. It felt so wonderful.   
He smiled and watched as Stephanie ran up to him. They embraced warmly. "Oh, it's been so  
long," Danny said tearfully before sobering up. He still had the same concerns he'd had when she  
announced she was going. "You haven't caught any malaria have you? No lions wandering  
around your place? No snakes or strange insects?"  
  
Stephanie laughed as Danny and Caleb clasped hands. "No, Dad, nothing like that."  
  
"How was your language school?" Danny's bags were brought into Stephanie and Caleb  
Wilson's house.  
  
"Fine, we got all our supplies bought, and now we're helping to run an orphanage here in  
Nairobi. So many of these kids have at least one parent who's died of AIDS." She noticed an  
incredible look of fright in her father. "Don't worry, Dad, the kids themselves don't have it."   
Most of the kids, anyway, she considered. But she didn't want to tell him that. Why scare him  
too much? He was overprotective as it was.  
  
Caleb spoke warmly. "We had the opportunity to lead a young lady to the Lord just before  
her passing recently, she had been brought to the hospital next door with her baby."  
  
"It made me think so much of Mom, and how sad it would have been if that child hadn't had  
any hope of seeing her again," Stephaie said, as she began weeping tears of joy. "But now, just  
like us, that little girl will be so fortunate to grow up knowing her Mom is safe in the arms of  
Jesus." She considered it so fitting that her dad would spend Thanksgiving with them. Stepahnie  
was realizing even more how lucky they were to having grown up in the United States, where it  
was common for people to hear such good news. She wished more young people would receive  
in their hearts Christ's forgiveness. But, she knew her place was helping these people.  
  
Danny simply sniffled and nodded. As hard as it was on his girls, Pam's death had been much  
harder on him. Especially now that he wasn't tending the house anymore. The one person he'd  
love to go and visit, he coudln't. How wonderful it would be if he could do what Stephanie had  
said once when she was five, weeks before Pam died, something written down in Pam's old  
memory book. "It would be so cool to go to Heaven on a sleepover, and then come back and tell  
people about it," she'd remarked. No wonder Stephanie often missed her, he mused, thinking of  
that saying. Perhaps it was fitting that she wound up doing this. But, what am I doing, just  
wandering around, Danny wondered.  
  
Caleb motioned toward the open fields and the buildings in the distance. "We have lots of  
sports centers set up, too, to help the people of this city. Stephanie has amazed me with her  
talents, she is going to start a dance school for the young girls. And, of course, we hold  
devotions in these places. The people are so hungry for good news, as all they see around them is  
death and dying and hopelesness."  
  
"Indeed, we've been very fortunate to grow up where we have. You're right, we should be  
very thankful." Danny hedged, unsure if he should mention what he'd sent. He knew foreign mail  
delivery was sometimes very poor. "Did you get my package," he wondered after a moment.  
  
"Yes...we got your dustbuster and cleaning supplies. We were...very touched," Caleb  
remarked, trying to be polite.  
  
"Honestly, Dad, I don't think that stuff would work here, or in the jungle where we go  
soemtimes. And we need the generator power to run our refrigerator and stove, we can't waste it  
on dusting things."  
  
"Well, try to keep it a little cleaner, you know, lots of germs are carried by..." He sneezed.  
"See what I mean? And, when was the last time you vacuumed?"  
  
"Uh, Dad...this is a dirt floor," Stephanie remarked. "If you want to give us something, give  
us the money to get a cement floor laid."  
  
"But If I'd bought that, I wouldn't have had the money to fly out and see you," he noted.  
  
------------------------------  
  
Danny spent the next few years going from home to home, spending longer amounts of time at  
each, yet never feeling at home at any of them. And yet, he couldn't go back to living in the  
house.  
  
Still, he knew someone should own it and live in it, rather than just renting. So, he mde a  
decision.  
  
"Thanks for selling us the house, Dad," Jeff said to Danny as they rode from the airport several  
years later. He was so excited. They'd finally own their own home after the closing in two days.   
They were already moved in. "I hear Nicky's got his first baby on the way."  
  
"Yep. And, hey, I'm glad to let you have the house. You young kids deserve it," Danny  
remarked. It was a hollow happiness. It was so hard, being away from home. He'd spent longer  
and longer periods with each of his family members recently. Three, four months at a time. And  
yet, whenever he started to feel at home, something felt uneasy. Whenever one of Jesse, Joey,  
D.J., Michelle, or even Stephanie out in the jungle invited him to stay, he refused. He somehow  
felt like an outsider. These were grown children now. And they were all doing a good job of  
caring for their own offspring. There was only so much cleaning he could do, even in the jungle.  
  
And, of course, he missed the old homestead. And the memories of Pam. He'd felt,  
somehow, like she was with hima lot more while he lived there.  
  
He changed the subject swiftly. "I hear Michelle's got another baby due in about six months."  
  
"Yeah, and little Pammy isn't even two yet. You know, I was thinking about what Aunt Becky  
said about how after a while, her great-grandma was invited to settle down and live with her  
grandma." He licked his lips. "And, well, you know, it's been almost five years since you decided  
to start travelling to our places." He chuckled. "I still can't believe you lasted even a week in  
Africa."  
  
"It was a real challenge. It's hard to clean something with a dirt floor. But, they certainly put  
me to work." He grinned. "Still, it was very rewarding." Perhaps, he considered, he still had  
trouble letting go of her. Or of anyone. This made it so nice. He could be with everyone, if only  
for a little bit at a time.  
  
It wasn't quite like the old days, with all nine living at the house - ten, when he remembered  
that Joey and his wife had lived there for a short time after their marriage. Then it had been D.J.  
moving in with Steve when they married, then Jesse and Becky leaving before the girls were born.   
Then Joey and his wife, then finally Stephanie and Michelle. That was what he really longed for;  
that was what he loved most. The fun, the family, the togetherness. He wished he could find  
some sense of permanency, of order, rather than the collossal scheduling hassle that living in one  
place, then another, created.  
  
"Actually, I'm glad for another reason. The house is going to be as full as when Michelle's  
Uncle Jesse and Joey first moved in," Jeff remarked casually.  
  
"Quintuplets," Danny shouted, so loud Jeff nearly wrecked the car. "My little girl's expecting  
quintuplets? Ther's no way her body can hold all those babies!"  
  
Jeff laughed at the reaction. "No, I don't mean that. I mean, we've always wanted to adopt.  
Both of us have talked about this. And, it's a lot harder with siblings, to keep them together."  
Danny nodded, a little confused. "There's these two kids who lost their folks a while back in  
Oakland, and the authorities were going to have to split them up. But, we stepped forward, and  
said we'd take them."  
  
Danny grineed as Jeff continued. "Dad...the toddler, Sally, is blind and has cerebral palsey.   
The older brother, Justin, is eight, and watches over her like a hawk. It would have broken his  
heart if they'd split up. You know, Justin's a lot like you, Michelle says." Danny chuckled. "She  
never really apprecited how important your overprotectiveness was till she met this little girl."  
  
Danny thought a moment. "Wait a minute. That will make Pammy, you, Michelle, the new  
baby, and those two. That's only six. That's how many there were when Jesse and Joey moved  
in," he rmarked.  
  
"I know. But, Michelle realizes with this adoption, even with her staying at home, we'll need  
someone helping her look after the toddler full time. Someone very protective, just like Justin is.   
Someone who can keep things orderly. Someone she knows will love these kids unconditionally."  
  
"You mean..."  
  
"We want you to come back home and live with us. Full time," Jeff remarked.  
  
Tears began to stream down Danny's face. He couldn't help it; he embraced Jeff as they  
stopped at a traffic light. "You don't know how happy you've just made me." It may not be  
everyone who was there before. But, it would help him feel closer to Pam once more. 


End file.
